Today was odd and eventful to say the least!
It all started last night when I got my preplan for the load picking up after the one I delivered today. They had me picking up in Forest Park, GA at 23:00. My day was going to be over around 20:00 so I called dispatch and told them I couldn't do it. A few phone calls later I wound up talking to the broker and was told it would be ok to load it Saturday morning being that the shipper is open 24/7. I went to bed thinking everything was good.
I got a call bright and early saying I was late for my first stop on the load I already had. The first stop was set for 07:00-15:00. They called and told me I was tracking to be there about 12:00 and wanted to know why. Well, isn't that between those hours? I'm still not sure what they were thinking. He apologized and I hung up.
Twenty minutes later the phone rings again and this time it's the broker. My load picking up at 23:00 is ready at 06:00 and they want to know if I can load it early. Well...no because I don't empty on the load I already have until 16:00. The broker gave me the shippers number and I called the guy. He asked if I could stop by and load it early. The load is a full truckload so I couldn't get it early. If it was just a few pallets I could have put it on the tail and went on with it. We decided I'd come back around 18:00 tonight and get loaded. Again, off I go thinking everything is fine.
Finally make it to the first drop. No problems here except one bible thumper who was trying to push his views off on me. He started ranting about the bible and jesus and blah blah. I shut the door on that subject pretty quick. I could explain my views to you but that would kind of defeat the purpose of me typing this paragraph basically saying "to each his own!!!"
My second stop was just 20 miles or so up the road. That was and easy drive. I found two of our drivers already waiting both with full loads or the same stuff for which I had a partial load. Turns out the customer had ordered 100,000lbs. They both had 40,000 and I had 20,000. We stood around talking for an hour waiting for the receiver to open up and let us deliver. Those two were ahead of me in line and docked before me yet the receiver chose to unload me first. Even when I left, they skipped the other two trucks and went on to somethione else. Not sure why.
I hit the road for my pickup. The shipper called me as I was about 5 minutes away looking for me. It was about 30 minutes later than I told them before. Traffic was a mess as usual and it was the quickest I could get there. Nothing more could be done to get there sooner. They had me loaded pretty quick.
Now I have a nice easy weekend driving to St. John's, MI for a monday delivery. This load has a little more time on it than I'd like but not too bad. I'll probably end up taking most of, if not all of, sunday off.
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